Episode discussion post: "Harvest"

[jae]

Aired:
9 May 2018 in the U.S. and Canada

This is a discussion post for episode 607 of The Americans, intended for viewers who are watching the show on the U.S./Canadian schedule. (Feel free to dive in to the discussion even if you're coming in late--and you should also feel free to start a new thread if it seems too daunting to read through what's already been posted first. If you're reading this at a point where you've already seen subsequent episodes, though, please take care to keep comments spoiler-free of anything that comes after season six, episode seven.)

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Stan and STRESS

[jae]

I've just seen it once at this point, so in lieu of a cohesive review, just one thought: that whole episode was stressful, but the parts I felt were OVER THE TOP stressful were the bits with Stan. I figured Stan would eventually find out the truth about his neighbours, but it honestly didn't occur to me that he would figure it out? I just figured he would FIND out. But this--this is so much more interesting than that would have been.

Also? I love all of the characters, so I find myself wanting all of them to get what they want somehow. I of course want Philip and Elizabeth to come out of this alive and with both their values and their relationship intact, but I ALSO want Stan to catch them and finally feel a resolution of these instincts he's suppressed since the pilot. But both of those things can't happen! Something has to give! ARGH! :)

-J

Re: Stan and STRESS

[saraqael]

I honestly am waiting in fascination to see what Stan does when he finally connects the dots about the Jennings. He's almost there now. The fact that he broke into their house to nose around tells me that he's starting to trust his own instincts and the few clues he does have over his friendship with the Jennings. I keep thinking back to when he shot that one Russian consulate guy just because he was angry. Stan is capable of cold blooded murder when he's really, really mad. But who knows? Maybe he'll laugh like Gaad and realize that his career is over. Or maybe he'll fall back on the genuine friendship he has with Philip to try to make a deal with him to defect. I love the fact that I just don't know what Stan is going to do.

Re: Stan and STRESS

[cadma2]

I am also so glad Stan is figuring it out! Honestly I think it would be devastating for him to just find out he'd been fooled for years. If he figures it out himself he can keep some self-respect.

Re: Stan and STRESS

[jae]

Yeah, it's definitely a much better ending to the character arc for him.

-J

[beer_good_foamy]

Yeah, you missed the good times, didn't you Phil? Hanging out, dressing up, killing cops, speaking Russian, chopping heads off in garages... Well, at least we know it's all for The Cause, don't we?

Lullaby tho baby's gone. Lullaby a broken song.
Oh, the cradle was our call, when it rocked we carried on
And we marched on toward Algiers, for we're marching toward Algiers
We're still marching for Algiers, marching, marching for Algiers
Not to hail a barren sky, sifting cloth is weeping red
The mourning veil is waving high a field of stars and tears we've shed
In the sky a broken flag, children wave and raise their arms
We'll be gone but they'll go on and on and on and on and on.
- Patti Smith Group, "Broken Flag"

Elizabeth draws a window. A way out, or the only glimpse you get of a world. "You need to bring yourself into it."

Doesn't Stan's epiphany feel a bit like they know there are only so many episodes to go and they need to get to it eventually? I like where it seems to be headed, and I love that he didn't simply find Evidence and is now Convinced, but it just feels a bit sudden.

"I see these kids at school, they think they're so political, they don't understand... It's like what you and Claudia say. And I'm not afraid to die. It's what I've always wanted, to make a difference." Paige still only sees it in the abstract. I have a feeling it's all going to get very concrete very soon.

Two big flashbacks, both focusing - like Paige talking about her parents "finding" each other, and Henry talking about family, and the dying agent sending two very different greetings to his parents, and Philip opening up more to Stan than he does to Elizabeth - on Elizabeth's and Philip's relationship. Real or not real? Does it even matter at this point? Whatever the reasons once were, it is what it is.

Is it realistic for Stan to be suspecting the Jennings' based on what happened here?

[jae]

Doesn't Stan's epiphany feel a bit like they know there are only so many episodes to go and they need to get to it eventually?

I can see why you'd say that, looking back at the episode, but it didn't feel like that to me. It actually seemed very systematic to me, and each little bit brought him closer to real, legit suspicion.

I see it like this:

1) He was already thinking about how weird it was that Elizabeth had to fly down to appease an important client--a strange thing anyway--during Thanksgiving, the first time their wayward son was home in ages. But he put those suspicions aside because, well, because things have always been weird with the Jenningses in that department.

2) Then Philip had to go too, and his suspicions were raised just a bit more. Not enough to think: "could they be Soviet illegals?" but just enough for him to be going "okay, seriously, what the hell?" So he approaches Philip and asks him, essentially, just that: What the hell? And he gets an explanation that could be accurate, but no, it doesn't quite work. Something feels off. Suspicions are raised a little bit more at this point.

3) So he gives Henry his gentle interrogation. And if you're approaching it from the perspective that Stan already has is senses all activated, Henry actually said some pretty damning things. Henry himself just thinks of this stuff he's commenting on as the background of his life--the way things have always been--but at this point Stan's brain is whirring, and he's thinking back through all the points where weird things have happened involving the Jenningses that he's just put aside.

4) He breaks into their house, finds nothing. But while he's looking around, he thinks through each one of those weird moments from all the years he's known them. And his brain snags on the time that he shot a Russian illegal and then Elizabeth was gone for a while.

At this point I think he's thinking the truth, actually spelling it out to himself in his head, but he's also thinking about just how crazy that is. He's still got some convincing to do, of his own self. But he's most of the way there.

So yeah, I bought it. And my heart was in my freaking THROAT.

-J

Re: Is it realistic for Stan to be suspecting the Jennings' based on what happened here?

[beer_good_foamy]

No, I agree that it makes sense on a logical and character level. Something about it just still seemed like I could see the writer's room behind it all. Maybe, just like Stan doesn't want to think that about his friend, I just don't want the show to end...

Philip should have just told him they were swingers. I have a feeling that would have thrown Stan off more.

Is it realistic for Stan to be suspecting the Jennings' based on what happened here?

[sistermagpie]

Yeah, it felt totally contrived to me even though I saw how they set it up.

[shapinglight]

Doesn't Stan's epiphany feel a bit like they know there are only so many episodes to go and they need to get to it eventually? I like where it seems to be headed, and I love that he didn't simply find Evidence and is now Convinced, but it just feels a bit sudden.

Worth remembering, I guess, that he was suspicious of them before, way back in season 1.

That said, I agree it's a little bit 'needs of the plot' but it still worked for me because it was set up way back when.

While watching thoughts

[lovingboth]

Nice cut from the grim-faced Philip in the previously to Stan laughing - and with unseen Henry. (I'd want a better agent if I were.. ah, he does actually have lines in the episode!)

If even Stan realises something's wrong - "I'm good with these things", ha.

Gosh, he's pushing, and yes, Philip talks about the money side. It's normally Elizabeth who uses some truth to tell a lie, isn't it?

Nice cold-eyed shot of Philip over Stan's shoulder, followed by a huge tease of Stan's face. No way is he thinking 'spy'. At best, it's 'what else isn't he saying?'

"I wasn't sure you'd really come" - ouch. Followed by not talking about it via going straight to "How was your flight?" chitchat.

Some more Henry-Stan bonding, complete with some more prying from Stan. More more prying, including about the family. OK, perhaps he is suspecting something is up.

Back to the central issue of trust in the hotel bedroom.

You could get down in the bus! I wonder if the five guys got paid, or are just being abandoned? Being paid would make more sense, because they're not going to make any fuss and might not talk about who hired them.

Ah ha, echoes of the end of season one! Blocked road, FBI shooting, someone getting shot.

I like the way his first message is actually to his mother, and then we get the mission message. In English. Followed by one to (about) his father. Given that the 'come with us, now' message was also in English, it's interesting he assumed Philip spoke Russian.

Was that Philip knowing he was certain to die, or letting him die via not doing enough to save him?

That was a long look between them over the axe. 'I'm thinking about what has to be done, you're not?'

Yes, they could have found a more private place to do it.

Interesting directorial choice to do one splatter shot, and only one.

And the gloves come off (unseen) - are they going to remember to wipe / burn the stolen car?

Cut to music.

And another 'he suspects' tease.

Elizabeth hasn't asked what he said before dying yet, something I'd have thought was a fairly obvious question.

I wonder if Philip and Elizabeth actually made bookings to Houston and, if they did, who took them. You wouldn't want to have leave such a gaping hole in your story as 'no, no-one of that name flew'.

Ha, echoes of the end of the first episode, with Stan having a naughty nosey!

It'd be funny if he found Henry's stained pictures of Sandra...

I wonder why they don't have anything to detect someone's been snooping around.

More art lessons. And lessons about work - she's not the only one to have the 'fuck the pain, shut up I need to work' attitude.

At what point is Stan going to look at the sketches? Are the old ones still around?

Let's talk about really secret stuff on the street, mum.

Interesting that she's being reasonably honest with Paige though.

'It doesn't happen a lot - I haven't been shot for several series!'

Ouch - in what sense did Philip make a mistake in ever choosing to do the work? Burning out after a couple of decades of extremely stressful work does not mean you were wrong to start.

Funny reaction from Paige over the internship bit. Talking about death and dying, no problem. Talking about doing some real work, problem.

Odd final scene. Yes, it's nice that it's not a cliff-hanger, but why have the echoes of their 'real' marriage ceremony now?

Re: While watching thoughts

[lovingboth]

Ah, on first view, I missed that Harvest took his suicide pill in the van, hence Philip's look towards Elizabeth was more of a 'is this how you're going to die?' one.

I do love the contrast with the 'Why are you trying to start the car? I've got to chop yet another person up first' look he gives her in the next (garage) scene...

Re: While watching thoughts

[quantumreality]

I think Elizabeth does have a bit of a point. Philip might well have been ideologically committed when he first started out, but the years have shown him what it actually means to do that kind of work - to have to live a lie 24/7 to the point where it almost seems the truth, and then on top of that to commit all kinds of illegal and immoral acts in service to his country.

And some people are better at compartmentalizing than others. Elizabeth is a bit better at it than Philip, I think.

Also, re: Paige.

I think she's getting her first serious dose of cold water about what she's really getting into. I really do think Elizabeth will have to make her kill somebody very soon now, because Marilyn didn't make it and Elizabeth will need to press Paige into her place until she can "hire" someone else down the road.

[I wonder how Elizabeth finds such fellow travellers, anyway. Does she just post a help wanted ad that reads 'casual work required; must not ask questions"?]

Re: While watching thoughts

[treonb]

Elizabeth hasn't asked what he said before dying yet, something I'd have thought was a fairly obvious question.

I thought she heard it all. She waited till he finished to ask her question, and she heard the response.

Re: While watching thoughts

[andy73]

"I wasn't sure you'd really come" - ouch. Followed by not talking about it via going straight to "How was your flight?" chitchat.

I think Elizabeth was a little bit embarrassed. I think also She was huppy to see Philip.
Right before She sincerely tells him that he didn’t have to come, there’s a beat where she looks at him with almost tearful and downright disbelieving affection, and it’s the most honest look we’ve seen from Elizabeth this entire season.
In other site i read that “ Elizabeth asking Philip if he was going to stay was such a Season One callback in the best possible way. Russell imbued that one request with a kind of shyness and hesitation that’s so rare for Elizabeth, and the relief we got to see in her entire body language when he put the suitcase on the bed was the kind of hopeful moment I’ve been waiting for all season“.
I can’t write better! I totally agree with it.

[quantumreality]

Speaking of which, it's kind of funny how Agent Wolfe is conspicuously absent during this season. :P

Sistermagpie's thoughts on Dead HandHarvest

[sistermagpie]

The things I found most fun/intriguing in this ep...

Wow, that convo at the end with Elizabeth and poor terribly-dressed Paige (her silhouettes the past two weeks have been brutal!). Elizabeth is still lying, making herself out to be the innocent, heroic victim. She tries to give Paige the standard tough talk with the out of "It's okay if you don't want to do this."

But every single thing Elizabeth says and does in her life proves the opposite. Paige will swallow whatever Elizabeth tells her to stay in the group but she's not going to fall for the "it's okay if you leave" speech. Not when Philip's treated like a disappointment and Henry has no relationship with his mother. Her mother has no respect for anyone outside that bubble.

She pretty much told Elizabeth that she thinks this is her only ticket to a marriage like Elizabeth's and a way of not being alone. She has no friends, only people she feels superior too because they don't subscribe to the Communist ideals of decades ago. (Idiots think they're "political" by engaging with world events, probably!) And Elizabeth accepts the reassurance just as I guess she gets from Philip when he's still breathing when she gets to the travel agency.

But I think telling her to apply for an internship at the state department is Elizabeth's sad gesture toward protecting her. Yes, she will totally start that easy career now where she won't get her hands chopped off! She really is just going to work at the state department and xerox things! She's failed almost every big test she's faced in the field, so let's just get her out of the field.

Stan's revelation seemed totally contrived to me despite the set up. But I think his B&E was more about telling himself nothing was wrong. He wants to assure himself his suspicions are false--he's season 4 Martha.

Henry was sensitive to Elizabeth's emotional state last week but missed Philip's signalling here. Stan didn't, though.

Henry's complaints were interesting. His being hurt at his parents leaving when he's home was understandable, but I can't help but think he himself also made himself unavailable when he wanted to go to boarding school. He's also got plans to be away for the summer because that's how to reach his goals. He's working. He's actually very much like his parents in that regard.

Second, it's interesting how he saw his parents as very different in this regard.

Third, Henry said in the end you have to be there for your family. Henry who beaned that guy with the beer bottle. Significant? We'll see. Everybody seems to expect Henry to end up with Stan but to me it seems like that's a false conclusion. He doesn't need a stand in dad and Henry's basically already independent with his room and board until college set up. Stan isn't going to unscrew Henry up after the Big Revelation. His father is always going to be the man he didn't know at all. He can't replace him--and replacing him with the guy who might wind up killing him would be even messier.

Elizabeth's very into her Death Necklace but Philip seems far more hurtling towards death to me, especially since nobody's really noticed. He doesn't seem like he's predicting his death so much as accepting his terrible fate even if it requires him to keep living. He's not getting out of this. He might as well be by Elizabeth's side.

Loved Harvest's last speech and the use of Russian vs. English in it. First, Harvest reports work stuff in English but his personal messages are in Russian. In the end that's what's actually important to him--his parents, his family. That's what he says as his real self.

Then there's Philip's reaction to it. I figured he was hearing that whole speech to his father as being directed at himself from Henry. He responded to the stuff to the mother by saying "I will." (I think Harvest asked him if he'd remember it in Russian.) But in response to the message to his father he switched to Russian to vow "Not a word." It's always significant to have these characters speak Russian and Philip does it less than Elizabeth. He'd already done the first assurance in English.

I totally called Marilyn dying. There was no way she was making it out. Paige is afraid of being alone--I'd say getting your head and hands chopped off by your comrades and left in a parking garage is a lonely death no matter what great cause you were part of there...

Elizabeth seems to have gotten to a place where she's making small gestures towards people but she's still not putting herself into it. She's projecting all problems with spying onto Philip and his unsuitability instead of looking at herself. Lest we forget, Elizabeth is the one who's kind of blow the network with her actions here.

She seems to sometimes be doing that thing she does where she tries to get the other person to do what she doesn't want to ask. Telling Paige she can quit. Telling Philip he doesn't have to come to Chicago. Even here with the necklace--did she give it to him for him to throw it away? She's still not sharing the mission but needs him to know about the pill but won't say why. It's certainly not because he likes her to tell him things.

I think Philip's going to tell her about his work with Oleg, btw. That's what his thinking about the marriage is about. And you know, people often see this as Philip not valuing politics enough but I see this as a situation where the personal is political. It's always been that for Philip. He is the Soviet citizen who has to obey the state but actually guards his inner life from them. That's his rebellion. Elizabeth is still trying to give everything to the state.

Re: Sistermagpie's thoughts on Dead HandHarvest

[jae]

Loved Harvest's last speech and the use of Russian vs. English in it. First, Harvest reports work stuff in English but his personal messages are in Russian. In the end that's what's actually important to him--his parents, his family. That's what he says as his real self.

<3

Yep, yep, yep.

-J

Re: Sistermagpie's thoughts on Harvest

[sistermagpie]

p.s. Love that it looks like the editor pulled up an old title so this thread was titled "Dead Hand Harvest." Like they're harvesting dead hands. Cool.

[saraqael]

Philip demonstrated his love to Elizabeth by showing up, helping out, and chopping up Marilyn, but the emotional toll it took on him was monstrous. That last shot of him sitting alone with that horrible, hopeless expression on his face was hard to witness for me. He looked like a man who has accepted that whatever he hoped for in life is lost to him forever. Elizabeth still won’t give up her mission or her death sentence, so it could very well be her getting shot and choking down the cyanide pill the next time. He did get valuable intel to pass along to Oleg, but at that moment I don’t think he cared.

I was glad at least to see Elizabeth back in emotional harmony with Philip. She knows he acted out of love for her and she knows the toll it took on him. She’s never been one to be effusive with her feelings, but all the bitter outrage she’d been banking up inside because he wasn't there for her is gone. The tender way that she reached out to touch him again, and then her returning to the travel agency to check on him was her way of saying, “I love you.” Of course, she also told him that she’s still going to kill herself if necessary, so there’s that. Having seen the death of Harvest and Marilyn, every word and gesture between them now feels like it could be the very last time they speak to each other or touch each other. So sad.

Paige, pitiful, earnest, ridiculous Paige who can’t even pull off wearing 80s style power shoulder pads in her clothes without looking like a pathetic mini-me version of her mother, admits that she isn’t afraid of death but is only afraid of being alone. She had no friends (like her Mom) and no purpose in life other than feeling a vague sense of ‘wanting to make a difference.’ She sees the injustices embedded in Western capitalism, but rather than embrace the peaceful, ‘help one person at a time’ approach offered by Pastor Tim, she commits to a murderous ideology that she clearly does not understand one tiny bit, and pledges the rest of her life to supporting a failed cause for a terrible, failed state. Paige finally achieved her dream. She’s become Elizabeth. She thinks she’ll find a marvelous love of her life companion in espionage just like mom did, and Elizabeth lacked the courage to tell her that the marriage was just a sham assignment too. Elizabeth gave her one last chance to walk away, but Paige commits her life (and death) to the cause and is now officially setting out to infiltrate the State Department. She is utterly screwed. How sad.

Even sadder to me though, was the moment that Henry essentially hung up on Philip’s late night apology call. Henry has always been the outlier, the overlooked, quasi-neglected kid. Unlike Paige who became an emotional doormat, Henry reacted to his weird upbringing by becoming resourceful. If his parents weren’t around to be there for him, he’d make his own way. He got used to his parents being absent, but that doesn’t mean that he liked it, as was made evident by his conversation with ‘uncle’ Stan. I think that having Philip suddenly vanish on him again was the last straw for Henry. He’s had enough of apologies and excuses.

As for Stan finally getting suspicious of his neighbors again… FINALLY. I know that the showrunners had to hold back this moment until the very end of the series for plotting purposes, but Stan is finally putting together all the little clues that he’s noticed over the years but ignored because of his friendship with Philip. The biggest thing, of course, is the weird hours and absences. He had no way of seeing inside their house, but over the years he’s noticed them coming and going in the middle of the night all the time. That’s enough to make anybody suspicious of their neighbors, much less an FBI agent. Hearing Henry said that his parents just ditched him and Paige randomly with no babysitter or relative to call on is also suspicious because that’s simply not how typical suburban parents behave. Again, you don’t have to be an FBI agent to be alarmed at the thought that your neighbors are leaving their little kids left alone in the house overnight or even for days. That's just not normal. Then to hear that the Jennings have no relatives whatsoever, except for an aunt that only Paige has seen (maybe), is also weird. Granted, not as weird as leaving your little kids alone while you jaunt off in the middle of the night, but still, out of the norm. All these little things, combined with a case involving a white couple that reminded Stan of a similar experience when Elizabeth mysteriously wasn’t around, and combining that with William’s dying words about the happy couple with the pretty wife and couple of kids living the American dream… I can see why Stan’s suspicions were aroused again. He didn’t find anything from his quick search of their house, but he’s definitely thinking about all the little ways that the Jennings simply don’t add up, and that is dangerous. Any little clue now could lead him back to the Jennings. It could be something as small as a cigarette butt that Elizabeth dropped at the scene. We saw him looking at the butts she left at the house. It’s tiny clues like these combined with experience and intuition that make Stan dangerous to them. However that turns out is going to be sad because I think that Stan and Philip are genuinely friends, maybe the only real, non-work friends that each other has.

[sistermagpie]

That last shot of him sitting alone with that horrible, hopeless expression on his face was hard to witness for me. He looked like a man who has accepted that whatever he hoped for in life is lost to him forever.

Yup. I really felt in this episode that Philip was going to die. Elizabeth has been more showy about her upcoming suicide but Philip seemed to be doing the same thing in this ep. The only time it really registered was with Stan when he hugged him.

There's probably a lot of things to pick apart as to why. He'd rebelled against Elizabeth trying to get him to kidnap Kimmie and was inspired to really help Oleg. But then Elizabeth called for help and maybe he's realizing that he's kidding himself that he's ever not going to be just following her around trying to save her from herself.

She thinks she’ll find a marvelous love of her life companion in espionage just like mom did, and Elizabeth lacked the courage to tell her that the marriage was just a sham assignment too.

Seriously, Paige seemed so doomed in this ep. She has no ability to commit to this with any real knowledge. She's desperate to be in the one relationship she has. Her attempt to talk about "The Cause" was just vague. I honestly doubt Holly Taylor even did much in the way of research on it because Paige didn't. She thinks these other kids are fooling themselves when she's actually the one deep in fantasy. Like Elizabeth she insists that she's the one living in the real world when she's actually rejecting it at every level.

Even with Philip Elizabeth can make gestures to say she appreciates him but not fully put herself into it. Plus she does it after he gets into the game for her.

The fact that she thinks this can lead to a marriage like a Elizabeth's is like the biggest tragedy of all. Paige basically started this all out by being jealous of her parents' marriage, feeling like they had a connection that was closer than any other. She thinks they found this love through the cause when it's more complicated than that. The love that Elizabeth really found through the Cause wound up dead and mistaken about the relationship as well.

I mean, it's not even down to their being paired up together. It's also that they made a good match. One of Philip's main characteristics is his ability to live on scraps. Paige isn't going to find a guy to relate to her like Philip does with Elizabeth, not without the guy probably just being dependent.

Again, you don’t have to be an FBI agent to be alarmed at the thought that your neighbors are leaving their little kids left alone in the house overnight or even for days.

FWIW, they had babysitters. We saw babysitters. They only started to be left alone when Paige was old enough to babysit, which is probably what Henry is referring to.

[andy73]

That last shot of him sitting alone with that horrible, hopeless expression on his face was hard to witness for me. He looked like a man who has accepted that whatever he hoped for in life is lost to him forever

Uhm… the small simile that Philip show us make me think… I don’t know… may be that he is remembering what was probably one of happy moments in his life…. And he realize that he can’t hide her what he are doing with Oleg…

Treon's thoughts

[treonb]

Both Aderholt and Elizabeth can get together for a drink and commiserate about their missions going to shit.

I don't think Paige will manage a Stan interrogation. She'll fall apart trying to explain Aunt Helen. Henry's words about protecting your family sound very ominous.

I skipped the hacking scene, was there anything important there?

Also, why does Philip look so surprised at Harvest's work message?

Re: Harvest's message

[sistermagpie]

I think he was just surprised that he'd just dropped this information and immediately looked to Elizabeth because she'd heard it. He wasn't supposed to hear that.

[shapinglight]

Only got to watch the episode this morning. I thought it was brilliant, though I agree with beer_good_foamy that Stan's suspicions about the Jenningses, though not without precedent, feel to me mainly plot driven.

Also, I agree with those who feel Philip is going to die. Unfortunately, I do too. He just seems to have lost hope completely.

The actress playing Erika is absolutely brilliant.

Stan's interrogation

[sistermagpie]

Something that hasn't gotten a lot of discussion in this context was Stan's convo with Henry. There's always been a lot of people who want to see Henry "end up with" Stan in the end. There's a lot of reasons I don't like this idea--most basically it makes it seem as if the Stan/Henry stuff is in there to give Henry a soft landing when nothing would make this ending soft.

A lot of this comes from seeing Stan's scenes with Henry and thinking they seem so friendly and isn't Stan a great surrogate dad etc. But in this ep Stan uses that relationship to interrogate Henry without his knowledge. He starts out questioning him about basic facts about Henry's friends' family to lull him into a question-answering mode and not sound too eager when he gets to the real questions about Henry's own family. Henry could not answer these questions about Stan because he's not his son.

Stan isn't Pastor Tim who would keep silent about the crime to protect Henry and Henry's family. He's hunting Henry's family here. He "means them harm." They're the enemy. He's their enemy. And there's no indication that he feels guilty about interrogating Henry, using him in his hunt.

I don't know all the meanings of Henry's last line about how it's important to be there for your family or whatever he said, but it does underline that this is Henry's family they're talking about, not Stan's.